From Ashes To Rainbow
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
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Object:
When God tells Noah that "I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you" (Genesis 9:9), it's much more than a mere promise or even a binding contract. Instead, God informs us that it's an "everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth" (Genesis 9:16). Signified by the rainbow, it's an intimate connection with the Almighty that is always there to sustain us, even in the darkest, rainiest nights of the soul. As team member Mary Austin notes in this installment of The Immediate Word, the permanence and reliability of God's covenant is quite a contrast from the promises that human beings often make to one another -- which are often renegotiated as circumstances change.
Perhaps the closest things we have to covenants in modern life are marriage and the promises that companies (and the government) make regarding the future availability of pension funds. As divorce statistics make clear, many people do not regard their wedding vows with the same degree of permanence as once was the case. Perhaps that's a matter of social context -- and with same-sex marriage becoming legal in more states (and the widespread acceptance of interracial marriage), it's clear that the "covenant" of marriage is being fundamentally redefined. Many senior citizens are also discovering that the pensions they had counted on for their retirement have been slashed -- or even disappeared, as bankruptcy courts have allowed numerous failing companies to default on their obligations. The painful reality is that changing circumstances may render even the most fundamental of promises moot -- which only contributes to a growing sense of cynicism about human motives. It's not coincidental that an oft-heard lament these days is a longing to return to a time when "a person's word was their bond." But as Mary points out, while we may not be able to count on the permanence and immutability of human covenants, the rainbow is a powerful sign that we can count on God's word as his bond with the creatures of the earth. Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are but dust and ashes before God... yet the rainbow is a sign of hope -- one that is reinforced by the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts about the gospel text and Jesus' retreat into the wilderness following his baptism. Dean suggests that many people attach connotations of great natural beauty to the term "wilderness," romanticizing its separation from the encroachment of human civilization. But for Jesus, Dean notes, the wilderness was a harsh desert climate unsuitable for habitation -- and filled with temptation. So Dean challenges us to consider where the wildernesses might be in our own lives, and how we might confront the temptations that cross our paths. If we have the courage to follow God into those wildernesses, however, we can be sure that -- like Jesus -- we will find angels to help guide us through the tests we face.
From Ashes to Rainbow
by Mary Austin
Genesis 9:8-17
Noah and the rainbow begin Lent for us, and we start the season of preparation for Easter firmly anchored in the covenant God makes with humanity. It's a nice reassurance to kick off the twists and turns, the ups and downs of Lent reminding us that we belong to God, no matter what.
The idea of covenant has been much in the news lately, with the reworking of social contracts companies and states have made with their employees. As same-gender marriage comes before courts, voters, and state legislatures, people are also rethinking what the covenant of marriage means. Lent invites us to look again at the idea of covenant, and what it means for us as people of faith.
THE WORLD
The agreements people once considered unbreakable now seem to be up for grabs.
The benefits and pensions promised to public workers, once held as an unbreakable promise, have begun to shrink. Agreements for public workers in Ohio and Wisconsin came under scrutiny last year and many municipal workers have had promised pension and health benefits cut in this tight economy. Many cities in Michigan, where I live, have combined police and fire departments to save money. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo won concessions from the public employees union in November after layoff notices were sent out. A freeze on wages for three years and increased health care costs are part of the new contract.
In turn, people receive fewer government services. Some cities no longer send firefighters to fight fires in empty houses, and the firefighters come to the scene only to ensure that the fire doesn't spread. As Michael Cooper writes in The New York Times, in San Jose, California, "the city's Fire Department laid off 49 firefighters two years ago, and the trucks that race to calls now carry only four firefighters instead of five. Streets are repaved less often. And the Police Department, which laid off 66 officers last summer and has shrunk by about a fifth in recent years, has grounded its helicopter, reassigned officers from special units to patrol, and stopped responding to burglar alarms." City employees in San Jose also agreed to a contract that cut compensation by at least 10%.
Cooper adds that "the nation has lost 668,000 state and local government jobs since the recession hit -- more than in any modern downturn, according to a new analysis of labor statistics by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. On the national level, the steady loss of public sector jobs has reduced the effects of recent job gains in the private sector and has slowed economic growth. But in cities and states around the country, the loss of those jobs has made it harder to provide services and has upended the lives of thousands of workers who had thought their government jobs were safe."
Employees of large corporations have seen their employment agreements similarly resized. GM recently announced the end of its defined benefit pension program for salaried workers, putting all salaried employees into a retirement plan dependent on their contributions. Workers hired after 2001 had already been in such a plan and this moved shifted workers hired earlier and who had been promised pensions, into the new plan.
The covenant of marriage is also being re-examined and reinvented. Washington became the seventh state to allow same-gender marriage recently, with the legislative debate featuring a powerful statement from a conservative Republican describing how her young adult children had changed her views over time. (Video of her remarks has already gone viral.) In Maryland, the House of Delegates voted in favor of same-gender marriage this past Friday, and the bill now returns to the state senate, which passed it once before and is considered likely to do so again. If the bill passes there, it goes to the voters as a referendum. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey vetoed a similar bill, but the issue will return as people's views evolve and legislators change seats.
Just as gay and lesbian couples work to have the right to get married, for many straight couples marriage is becoming a luxury. As Jason DeParle and Sabrina Tavernise write in the New York Times: "the share of children born to unmarried women has crossed a threshold: more than half of births to American women under 30 occur outside marriage. Once largely limited to poor women and minorities, motherhood without marriage has settled deeply into middle America. The fastest growth in the last two decades has occurred among white women in their twenties who have some college education but no four-year degree, according to Child Trends, a Washington research group that analyzed government data."
College-educated women are more likely to be married before having children, which means that, as the article notes, "the economic and social rewards of marriage [are] increasingly reserved for people with the most education." The article quotes Frank Furstenberg, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, as saying: "Marriage has become a luxury good."
The covenant of marriage is no longer a social, emotional, or financial necessity. The authors observe: "The forces rearranging the family are as diverse as globalization and the pill. Liberal analysts argue that shrinking paychecks have thinned the ranks of marriageable men, while conservatives often say that the sexual revolution reduced the incentive to wed and that safety net programs discourage marriage." Perhaps both are true, but the changes to the covenant of marriage are unmistakable.
All human covenants are subject to change.
THE WORD
So the first Sunday in Lent recalls us to God's covenant. God has washed away humanity in the flood and now makes the first covenant in faith history. God makes this covenant with Noah and his family and "with every living creature that is with you," so it's a covenant with all of the created world. Curiously, God was so angry that the divine anger was allowed to sweep away humanity from the face of the earth in a flood, and yet God is now willing to make a promise never to do it again. Surely God must know that humankind will falter again and that wickedness will overtake us again. Even in the face of that, God chooses not just to save a few human beings and animals but to make a promise to the generations after them.
This covenant is so important that it needs a sign, a reminder that God's faithfulness to humankind is now guaranteed for all the generations to come. The rainbow is that sign. As Geoff McElroy notes on his blog Desert Scribblings: "The rainbow does serve as a sign for us, a sign that reminds us of God's promises first and foremost, a sign that reminds us that God remembers us and has not abandoned us.†It is a sign that God's memory is more powerful than our forgetfulness, and God's desire for resurrection and new life overcomes our appetite for destruction and death."
This covenant is a powerful bond between God and humankind.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Our lives have all kinds of covenants and inevitably some are broken. Marriages begin in trust, and too many end in anger and betrayal or in a deadening weariness. Job contracts end. Society changes and social bonds shift and then are reborn in different ways. We also have covenants in our minds that no one else knows about, things we believe about the way the world should operate. These aren't really covenants because no one else has agreed to them, but we feel like things should happen a certain way.
All of those covenants are likely to change, shift, break, and regrow as we change and as the world changes. We're reminded all the time of change, of the death of old patterns, habits, and values. The covenant with God is the only permanent one.
The rainbow is an elegant reminder of life, and the lectionary places the story just days after we've been marked by the sign of ashes on Ash Wednesday. The ashes mark us as creatures of dust, returning to dust, frail and finite. The ashes are a sign of repentance, to be sure, but also a poignant reminder of our own finitude. One of the most moving experiences I have as a pastor is looking into the eyes of parishioners, some ill or frail, and gently marking their foreheads with ashes. "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return" I tell them, and each year I know that some of them will likely return to dust before Ash Wednesday comes again. Life is uncertain, and it may be that I will return to the dust before they do, but we both know in that moment of connection that our life here is limited.
The rainbow is the other side of the ashes, the mark of the promise that goes beyond our limitations. Dust we are and to dust we shall return and in between God remembers us in covenant faithfulness.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Into the Wilderness
by Dean Feldmeyer
Mark 1:9-15
Last Sunday Mark prepared us for the beginning of Lent by focusing on Jesus and reminding us to "listen to him."
This Sunday we hear the first words uttered by Jesus: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news" (Mark 1:15). This, biblical scholars tell us, is the entire gospel message condensed into a single sentence.
Before we can consider that, Mark asks us to first look at the calling of the one who said it. He takes us back to Jesus' baptism by John and his ordeal in the wilderness, the 40 days of which are the inspiration and model for the 40 days of Lent.
As always, Mark is in a hurry, and he assumes we know the stories so he just gives us reminders -- shortened, redacted, Reader's Digest condensed versions. He takes care of the entire baptism story in a single verse: In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan (v. 9).
Mark is more interested in what happens after the baptism but even that is given in truncated form. First, Jesus comes up out of the water. As he does this he sees the heavens rent asunder and the Spirit of God descending gently, like a dove. Then he hears a voice coming out of heaven that says, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Note that in Mark the revelation, visual and auditory, is for Jesus alone. No one else sees what he sees or hears what he hears.
Here we might observe that this seems to be the case throughout history when God speaks to human beings. We all experience God's calling differently and personally. Some hear God's voice in thunder and lightning, some hear it as still and small. Some are knocked to the ground and blinded by God's presence, and some are gently awakened from their slumber. Some are compelled, and some are invited.
In this account the heavens are torn apart but the revelation comes to Jesus gently, as a dove, with a sense of both calling and affirmation: You are my son, whom I love and of whom I am very proud.
Wouldn't it be nice to linger for a day or two right here? Wouldn't it be pleasant to just hear that last sentence, that uplifting, strengthening, affirming pronouncement of God upon your life, repeated a few times, and then to let it warm and comfort you? After a moment like that don't you just want to join hands and sing, "They'll know we are Christians by our love"?
Alas, the Spirit has other plans. Immediately (Mark's favorite word) the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness.
Where is the wilderness for you?
We Americans have a tendency to romanticize the concept of wilderness, don't we? What does that word bring to mind for you? The Canadian Rockies? The Sierra Madres? The Blue Ridge or Smoky Mountains? Nine times out of ten, when we say "wilderness" we think of idealized versions of nature. Ansel Adams photographs spring before our mind's eye.
That was not the wilderness of first-century Palestine. This was ugly, barren, hot, miserable, dangerous wilderness. No one in his right mind went there voluntarily. Scorpions and cutthroat criminals and wild animals lived there. Rather nasty.
Also, we are told, there are temptations in such a wilderness as this, the number one of which being that we will become like the wilderness itself: uncivilized, untamed, wild, and anarchic.
The hermeneutical question is, of course, "Where is your wilderness?" Where is it that you are tempted by Satan and find yourself with dangerous wild beasts? Perhaps it is right outside your door, in the concrete canyons of the inner city, or in the backwoods hollows of Appalachia. Maybe your wilderness is the boardroom or the classroom, the football field or the field of politics. Where is it that Satan tempts you to become one of the wild animals that you have beheld?
No hermeneutical challenge is left by itself without a promise, however, and that is the case here. If we allow ourselves to be compelled into the wilderness by God's Holy Spirit, we will be challenged and tempted -- but we will also be ministered to by angels.
God does not let us go into the wilderness alone. He provides us with resources.
Again, we return to the hermeneutical questions: When did you find yourself alone in the wilderness and ministered to by angels?
Perhaps your angels were your next-door neighbors or your parents, your children or your fellow church members. Maybe instead of wings and a halo they wore scrubs or a uniform. Whatever they looked like for you, the promise of God's word is that, if you have allowed the Spirit to take you into your personal wilderness, you did not go alone; angels went with you and ministered to you.
Mark concludes this pericope by reminding us that only after we have been chosen by God and then gone into and come out of the wilderness will we be ready to understand, repeat, and live the good news of the gospel: The time is fulfilled, the kingdom has come near; repent, and believe the good news.
ILLUSTRATIONS
You could not see it in the sky, but if you were an air traffic controller it was very visible on your radar screen. It was the outline of the number 787 and the logo for Boeing, stretching from Washington state to Iowa.
Boeing decided to place this design in the sky to commemorate the recently launched 787 Dreamliner. The jet required an 18-hour Extended Operations Duration flight test. So, as long as the plane was going to be in the air, the Boeing executives decided to advertise their new aircraft and company at the same time. Covering over 9,000 nautical miles, the design took 19 hours to create and took meticulous planning. As Randy Tinseth, Boeing's vice-president of marketing, put it: "This was no joy ride."
The path of the 787 Dreamliner may not be as visible as a rainbow stretching between Washington state and Iowa, but it does demonstrate the same kind of commitment to excellence and a promise to the future of aviation. Beyond just the rainbow, there are many signs of better days ahead.
* * *
The marriage covenant is not what it used to be; that is, a sacred vow. Now it is more of a contractual commitment that one can as easily ease out of as into.
Andrew Cherlin, the author of The Marriage-Go-Around and a professor at John Hopkins University, said, "Now that we've had several decades of high divorce rates, we may know how to do divorce a little better and in a way that minimizes the pain." Cherlin theorizes that in the last 50 years divorce has lost it stigma. A half-century ago, only the most miserable left their marriages; now, those who are "moderately unhappy" are yielding to acrimonious splits.
So it's probably not shocking, as Rebecca Dana, the social columnist for Newsweek, observes in a piece titled "We're Over. Let's Party," that the latest craze among celebrities is for divorcing couples to throw large, expensive, and lavish parties to celebrate. This is always followed by the confession that though each are going their separate ways, they will still always be friends.
And the meaning of the rainbow becomes fainter and fainter with each passing storm.
* * *
While still at sea before landing at Cape Cod in the winter of 1620, the Pilgrims formed themselves into a covenant relationship that has come to be known as the Mayflower Compact. It reads in part:
"In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glorie of God, and advancemente of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant the first colonie in the Notherne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaidÖ"
The Pilgrims received their idea of a covenant from the many covenants in the Bible, beginning with the first one God made with Noah.
* * *
Fred Buechner has this to say about the simple, timeworn story of Noah and his covenant with God:
And the turbulent waters of chaos and nightmare are always threatening to burst forth and flood the earth. We hardly need the tale of Noah to tell us that. The New York Times tells us just as well, and our own hearts tell us well, too, because chaos and nightmare have their little days there also. But the tale of Noah tells other truths as well.
It tells about the ark, for one, which somehow managed to ride out the storm.... The ark is wherever people come together because this is a stormy world where nothing stays put for long among the crazy waves and where at the end of every voyage there is a burial at sea. The ark is where, just because it is such a world, we really need each other and know very well that we do. The ark is wherever human beings come together because in their heart of hearts all of them... dream the same dream, which is a dream of peace -- peace between the nations, between the races, between the brothers -- and thus ultimately a dream of love. Love, not as an excuse for the mushy and innocuous, but love as a summons to battle against all that is unlovely and unloving in the world. The ark, in other words, is where we have each other and where we have hope.
-- from "A Sprig of Hope" in The Hungering Dark (Seabury, 1981), pp. 41-42
* * *
"I establish my covenant with you," says the Lord to Noah, "that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood" (Genesis 9:11). Then the Lord gives Noah the rainbow sign -- an emblem of a new covenant of peace. Because of the quaint image of animals walking two by two we often relegate this story to the world of children's tales, but in fact it is an example of what biblical scholar Phyllis Trible calls a "text of terror." The Almighty here is fierce and dangerous. The gently curving rainbow is quite literally God's bow, God's weapon (v. 16). To the ancient Hebrew people, it is only God's covenant that saves them from destruction that prevents the Lord from taking down the celestial bow, stringing it once again, and wreaking havoc with creation.
* * *
There are many types of covenants in the Bible. The covenant with Moses, for example, takes the form of what scholars call a suzerainty agreement; it's laid out according to the same format as the treaty a conquering emperor would impose upon a newly defeated king. There's an element of negotiation to it: "I'll do something for you, and you do something for me in return."
This covenant with Noah is different. It's what biblical scholars refer to as a "royal grant." In a royal grant covenant, a king rewards a loyal subject by granting an office, or land, or an exemption from taxes. In a royal grant covenant, it's only the superior party who is bound by its terms. There are no conditions imposed upon the inferior party. The covenants God makes with Noah, Abraham, and David all fit this pattern. In each of these cases, it is God alone who chooses to make covenant, to be bound by a solemn oath.
Why does the Lord do it? Out of love. There's no other explanation. There's no one on earth who could disarm this fearsome and mighty warrior; yet the warrior voluntarily chooses to hang up the bow, resolving to practice war no more.
There's another example of this kind of covenant in the Bible -- a covenant leading to a deeper relationship. It happens in the New Testament, at the Last Supper. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood," Jesus proclaims. "Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
* * *
A rainbow is made of tiny droplets of water suspended in the air. The sun shines through these drops of water and its light is refracted, as through a prism. It is this refraction, this splitting up of white light that creates the rainbow's bands of color.
In a certain sense, therefore, the rainbow is made up of the storm itself. The water that once cascaded down upon the earth, sweeping everything before it, has now become a sign of grace. The dread reality that once called forth only terror is transformed into something beautiful.
We can see a similar thing in certain churches and shrines that are renowned as places of healing. Displayed on the walls of such places are items like canes and crutches cast aside by confident people who believed God had healed them. A cane or a crutch is not often a symbol of hope; usually it is a mark of sadness, a reminder of human limitations and the frailty of the flesh. Yet when hung upon the wall of a church where people come for healing, that very thing is transformed into a symbol of hope -- and all by the power of God.
The same is true of relics of the Berlin Wall. For 28 years the wall was an icon of political oppression, a symbol of despair before the stifling power of the totalitarian state. Yet after that giddy night in 1989 when demonstrators, realizing that the guards had departed, hoisted themselves upon it and smashed it with sledgehammers, the wall was transformed into a symbol of freedom. The Germans broke it into tiny pieces and sent the pieces all over the world so that freedom-loving people everywhere could rejoice in their new, hopeful reality.
The same may be said of another symbol, even better known to us than the rainbow or any other image. It's the symbol that occupies the central place in our sanctuary: the cross.
* * *
The wilderness has been a defining feature of American character. It really did not take much encouragement from Horace Greeley to "Go west, young man!" The wilderness has held a lure for us from the beginning of early trapping days to Conestoga wagon days to intercontinental railway days to interstate highway days. We want to enter it, explore it, cross it, and tame it. And when we think we have reached our limit in claiming the land "from sea to shining sea," we look elsewhere for a wilderness in which to forge our character further: space -- "the final frontier."
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner once wrote a letter to a member of the commission responsible for assessing potential uses of America's remaining wilderness areas. Stegner was extremely concerned about protecting and preserving them, saying: "We need wilderness preserved -- as much of it as is still left, and as many kinds -- because it was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed." He also expressed the view that as Americans we are civilized because we have renewed ourselves in the wild.
* * *
After his baptism, Jesus was sent into the desert. It was almost as if the dove who alighted upon him suddenly became a hawk whose talons forced Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan. Jesus resisted. Jesus endured. Jesus emerged victorious. But the wilderness experience is more than just being tempted by Satan to sin; it is also a test by Satan to see if we are always going to do our best.
Jeremy Lin is the latest sports sensation. The unknown, undrafted Harvard graduate has suddenly become a superstar for the New York Knicks and the darling of fans and headline writers across the nation. Is it a fluke? Lin applied the same dedication to perfecting his sport as he applied to his studies of economics -- and he did so looking to the dove of heaven, for he said: "I believe in an all-powerful and all-knowing God who does miracles."
We can debate if Lin is a miracle or not for the Knicks; but what does stands for certain is that, like Tim Tebow, he is a witness to the Christian faith.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: To you, O God, I lift up my soul.
People: O my God, in you I trust.
Leader: Make me to know your ways, O God; teach me your paths.
People: Lead me in your truth and teach me,
Leader: for you are the God of my salvation;
People: for you I wait all day long.
OR
Leader: Come and listen to the good news from Jesus.
People: What is this good news he proclaims?
Leader: He calls us to repent.
People: Repent? That doesn't sound like good news.
Leader: Repent means to change, to turn around, or to find a new life.
People: Then repentance really is good news! Let us follow Jesus!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days"
found in:
UMH: 269
H82: 142
PH: 81
NCH: 211
CH: 180
"What Wondrous Love Is This?"
found in:
UMH: 292
H82: 439
PH: 85
NCH: 223
CH: 200
LBW: 385
ELW: 666
Renew: 277
"Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross"
found in:
UMH: 301
NNBH: 103
NCH: 197
CH: 587
ELW: 336
"Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle"
found in:
UMH: 296
NCH: 220
"Spirit Song"
found in:
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
CCB: 51
Renew: 248
"I Surrender All"
found in:
UMH: 354
AAHH: 396
NNBH: 198
"Dear Lord and Father of Mankind"
found in:
UMH: 358
H82: 652/653
PH: 345
NCH: 502
CH: 594
LBW: 506
"Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us"
found in:
UMH: 381
H82: 708
PH: 387
AAHH: 424
NNBH: 54
NCH: 252
CH: 558
LBW: 481
ELW: 789
"Change My Heart, O God"
found in:
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
"You Are Mine"
found in:
CCB: 58
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who faithfully calls us into covenant with you and with one another: Grant us the grace to trust in your love enough that we can offer ourselves to you and each other; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship the faithful one whose covenant never fails. In a world that is very uncertain, we lean on your strong arm. Help us to draw close to you this day so that we too may be faithful in our covenant with you and with your creation. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our quickness to listen to everyone except Jesus.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us your beloved children and instructed us to obey your Son. But we have not listened to him. We listen to everyone else around us and believe that they have the answer for us. When Jesus tells us to give up hatred and violence, we cling to the hope for revenge. When Jesus tells us that treasures on earth will fade away, we just pile up more and more of them. When Jesus tells us to follow him, we follow our own desires instead. Forgive us and help us to hear him call us once again to repent, to change, to turn around, and give us the power of the Spirit to obey and follow him to life eternal. Amen.
Leader: God's covenant is true. God is always faithful and welcomes us back into the fold as we begin to follow anew our Shepherd.
Prayer for Illumination
Send, O God, the light of your Spirit upon us, that as the good news of Jesus is read and proclaimed we may listen not only with our ears but also with our feet so that we may turn and follow him. Amen.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and praise your name, O God, for you are the faithful one who never breaks covenant. You are the trusted rock of our salvation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us your beloved children and instructed us to obey your Son. But we have not listened to him. We listen to everyone else around us and believe that they have the answer for us. When Jesus tells us to give up hatred and violence, we cling to the hope for revenge. When Jesus tells us that treasures on earth will fade away, we just pile up more and more of them. When Jesus tells us to follow him, we follow our own desires instead. Forgive us and help us to hear him call us once again to repent, to change, to turn around, and give us the power of the Spirit to obey and follow him to life eternal.
We give you thanks for the steadfast, loving kindness with which you bless us. You hold us in the hollow of your hand. You walk with us through the valley of deep darkness. You stand beside us in all the days of our lives.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer to you the hurts and cares of this world that you continue to call to yourself and to life. We pray that we may be part of your caring for those around us. Help us to see each other as you see us, as people in need of healing and wholeness. Help us to share your love.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about when parents and other adults say "Listen," they usually mean "Obey." Tell them that is part of the meaning of the word. When God tells the disciples to listen to Jesus, God means to obey him, to do what he says. Play "Jesus Says" (i.e. "Simon Says") with the children. After a few commands, tell them "Jesus says, 'Repent.' " When they don't know what to do, talk about the word "repent." Tell them that it means to turn around and to go the other direction. When Jesus tells us to repent he wants us to stop going the wrong way and to go the right way instead. We need to follow Jesus.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Tested and Approved
Mark 1:9-15
Object: a product that has been tested [the text below utilizes a dish, but can easily be adapted for whatever you have available]
Today we learn that Jesus went into the wilderness. What's a "wilderness"? (let the children answer) A "wilderness" is like a desert. It is a lonely place where there are not many people and few plants. It says that Jesus was tempted -- or tested -- by Satan. Who is Satan? (let them answer) Satan is the devil -- the one who tries to get us away from God.
It says that Jesus was "tempted," and the word "tempted" is very much like the word "tested." I brought with me this morning a dish that has been tested. Before I bought this dish, I learned that it had been tested in many ways. It has been tested so that it can be very cold -- like in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator. It has been tested so that it can withstand heat -- like in an oven. Where they make these dishes, they even test them for breaking when dropped.
Because this dish has been tested, I know it will not break easily and I can use it for many things. I can use it in the freezer or in the oven or on my table. This dish has been tested, and I know I can trust it.
In the same way, Jesus was tested by Satan. When Satan tests us, we know that Satan also tested Jesus long before and Jesus passed the test. He did not listen to Satan. He resisted temptation and was faithful to God. Since Jesus proved himself true, we can know he is the Savior we can trust.
Since I know that Jesus had tests from Satan, I know that he understands when I am also tested. There are many things that try to pull me away from God. But I can have the strength to resist such temptations because Jesus understands what it is like to be tested, and Jesus helps me resist the tests. I'm so glad Jesus understands me and is there to help me.
Prayer: Dearest Savior, Jesus, thank you for resisting the devil and proving yourself faithful to God. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 26, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Perhaps the closest things we have to covenants in modern life are marriage and the promises that companies (and the government) make regarding the future availability of pension funds. As divorce statistics make clear, many people do not regard their wedding vows with the same degree of permanence as once was the case. Perhaps that's a matter of social context -- and with same-sex marriage becoming legal in more states (and the widespread acceptance of interracial marriage), it's clear that the "covenant" of marriage is being fundamentally redefined. Many senior citizens are also discovering that the pensions they had counted on for their retirement have been slashed -- or even disappeared, as bankruptcy courts have allowed numerous failing companies to default on their obligations. The painful reality is that changing circumstances may render even the most fundamental of promises moot -- which only contributes to a growing sense of cynicism about human motives. It's not coincidental that an oft-heard lament these days is a longing to return to a time when "a person's word was their bond." But as Mary points out, while we may not be able to count on the permanence and immutability of human covenants, the rainbow is a powerful sign that we can count on God's word as his bond with the creatures of the earth. Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are but dust and ashes before God... yet the rainbow is a sign of hope -- one that is reinforced by the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts about the gospel text and Jesus' retreat into the wilderness following his baptism. Dean suggests that many people attach connotations of great natural beauty to the term "wilderness," romanticizing its separation from the encroachment of human civilization. But for Jesus, Dean notes, the wilderness was a harsh desert climate unsuitable for habitation -- and filled with temptation. So Dean challenges us to consider where the wildernesses might be in our own lives, and how we might confront the temptations that cross our paths. If we have the courage to follow God into those wildernesses, however, we can be sure that -- like Jesus -- we will find angels to help guide us through the tests we face.
From Ashes to Rainbow
by Mary Austin
Genesis 9:8-17
Noah and the rainbow begin Lent for us, and we start the season of preparation for Easter firmly anchored in the covenant God makes with humanity. It's a nice reassurance to kick off the twists and turns, the ups and downs of Lent reminding us that we belong to God, no matter what.
The idea of covenant has been much in the news lately, with the reworking of social contracts companies and states have made with their employees. As same-gender marriage comes before courts, voters, and state legislatures, people are also rethinking what the covenant of marriage means. Lent invites us to look again at the idea of covenant, and what it means for us as people of faith.
THE WORLD
The agreements people once considered unbreakable now seem to be up for grabs.
The benefits and pensions promised to public workers, once held as an unbreakable promise, have begun to shrink. Agreements for public workers in Ohio and Wisconsin came under scrutiny last year and many municipal workers have had promised pension and health benefits cut in this tight economy. Many cities in Michigan, where I live, have combined police and fire departments to save money. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo won concessions from the public employees union in November after layoff notices were sent out. A freeze on wages for three years and increased health care costs are part of the new contract.
In turn, people receive fewer government services. Some cities no longer send firefighters to fight fires in empty houses, and the firefighters come to the scene only to ensure that the fire doesn't spread. As Michael Cooper writes in The New York Times, in San Jose, California, "the city's Fire Department laid off 49 firefighters two years ago, and the trucks that race to calls now carry only four firefighters instead of five. Streets are repaved less often. And the Police Department, which laid off 66 officers last summer and has shrunk by about a fifth in recent years, has grounded its helicopter, reassigned officers from special units to patrol, and stopped responding to burglar alarms." City employees in San Jose also agreed to a contract that cut compensation by at least 10%.
Cooper adds that "the nation has lost 668,000 state and local government jobs since the recession hit -- more than in any modern downturn, according to a new analysis of labor statistics by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. On the national level, the steady loss of public sector jobs has reduced the effects of recent job gains in the private sector and has slowed economic growth. But in cities and states around the country, the loss of those jobs has made it harder to provide services and has upended the lives of thousands of workers who had thought their government jobs were safe."
Employees of large corporations have seen their employment agreements similarly resized. GM recently announced the end of its defined benefit pension program for salaried workers, putting all salaried employees into a retirement plan dependent on their contributions. Workers hired after 2001 had already been in such a plan and this moved shifted workers hired earlier and who had been promised pensions, into the new plan.
The covenant of marriage is also being re-examined and reinvented. Washington became the seventh state to allow same-gender marriage recently, with the legislative debate featuring a powerful statement from a conservative Republican describing how her young adult children had changed her views over time. (Video of her remarks has already gone viral.) In Maryland, the House of Delegates voted in favor of same-gender marriage this past Friday, and the bill now returns to the state senate, which passed it once before and is considered likely to do so again. If the bill passes there, it goes to the voters as a referendum. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey vetoed a similar bill, but the issue will return as people's views evolve and legislators change seats.
Just as gay and lesbian couples work to have the right to get married, for many straight couples marriage is becoming a luxury. As Jason DeParle and Sabrina Tavernise write in the New York Times: "the share of children born to unmarried women has crossed a threshold: more than half of births to American women under 30 occur outside marriage. Once largely limited to poor women and minorities, motherhood without marriage has settled deeply into middle America. The fastest growth in the last two decades has occurred among white women in their twenties who have some college education but no four-year degree, according to Child Trends, a Washington research group that analyzed government data."
College-educated women are more likely to be married before having children, which means that, as the article notes, "the economic and social rewards of marriage [are] increasingly reserved for people with the most education." The article quotes Frank Furstenberg, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, as saying: "Marriage has become a luxury good."
The covenant of marriage is no longer a social, emotional, or financial necessity. The authors observe: "The forces rearranging the family are as diverse as globalization and the pill. Liberal analysts argue that shrinking paychecks have thinned the ranks of marriageable men, while conservatives often say that the sexual revolution reduced the incentive to wed and that safety net programs discourage marriage." Perhaps both are true, but the changes to the covenant of marriage are unmistakable.
All human covenants are subject to change.
THE WORD
So the first Sunday in Lent recalls us to God's covenant. God has washed away humanity in the flood and now makes the first covenant in faith history. God makes this covenant with Noah and his family and "with every living creature that is with you," so it's a covenant with all of the created world. Curiously, God was so angry that the divine anger was allowed to sweep away humanity from the face of the earth in a flood, and yet God is now willing to make a promise never to do it again. Surely God must know that humankind will falter again and that wickedness will overtake us again. Even in the face of that, God chooses not just to save a few human beings and animals but to make a promise to the generations after them.
This covenant is so important that it needs a sign, a reminder that God's faithfulness to humankind is now guaranteed for all the generations to come. The rainbow is that sign. As Geoff McElroy notes on his blog Desert Scribblings: "The rainbow does serve as a sign for us, a sign that reminds us of God's promises first and foremost, a sign that reminds us that God remembers us and has not abandoned us.†It is a sign that God's memory is more powerful than our forgetfulness, and God's desire for resurrection and new life overcomes our appetite for destruction and death."
This covenant is a powerful bond between God and humankind.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Our lives have all kinds of covenants and inevitably some are broken. Marriages begin in trust, and too many end in anger and betrayal or in a deadening weariness. Job contracts end. Society changes and social bonds shift and then are reborn in different ways. We also have covenants in our minds that no one else knows about, things we believe about the way the world should operate. These aren't really covenants because no one else has agreed to them, but we feel like things should happen a certain way.
All of those covenants are likely to change, shift, break, and regrow as we change and as the world changes. We're reminded all the time of change, of the death of old patterns, habits, and values. The covenant with God is the only permanent one.
The rainbow is an elegant reminder of life, and the lectionary places the story just days after we've been marked by the sign of ashes on Ash Wednesday. The ashes mark us as creatures of dust, returning to dust, frail and finite. The ashes are a sign of repentance, to be sure, but also a poignant reminder of our own finitude. One of the most moving experiences I have as a pastor is looking into the eyes of parishioners, some ill or frail, and gently marking their foreheads with ashes. "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return" I tell them, and each year I know that some of them will likely return to dust before Ash Wednesday comes again. Life is uncertain, and it may be that I will return to the dust before they do, but we both know in that moment of connection that our life here is limited.
The rainbow is the other side of the ashes, the mark of the promise that goes beyond our limitations. Dust we are and to dust we shall return and in between God remembers us in covenant faithfulness.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Into the Wilderness
by Dean Feldmeyer
Mark 1:9-15
Last Sunday Mark prepared us for the beginning of Lent by focusing on Jesus and reminding us to "listen to him."
This Sunday we hear the first words uttered by Jesus: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news" (Mark 1:15). This, biblical scholars tell us, is the entire gospel message condensed into a single sentence.
Before we can consider that, Mark asks us to first look at the calling of the one who said it. He takes us back to Jesus' baptism by John and his ordeal in the wilderness, the 40 days of which are the inspiration and model for the 40 days of Lent.
As always, Mark is in a hurry, and he assumes we know the stories so he just gives us reminders -- shortened, redacted, Reader's Digest condensed versions. He takes care of the entire baptism story in a single verse: In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan (v. 9).
Mark is more interested in what happens after the baptism but even that is given in truncated form. First, Jesus comes up out of the water. As he does this he sees the heavens rent asunder and the Spirit of God descending gently, like a dove. Then he hears a voice coming out of heaven that says, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Note that in Mark the revelation, visual and auditory, is for Jesus alone. No one else sees what he sees or hears what he hears.
Here we might observe that this seems to be the case throughout history when God speaks to human beings. We all experience God's calling differently and personally. Some hear God's voice in thunder and lightning, some hear it as still and small. Some are knocked to the ground and blinded by God's presence, and some are gently awakened from their slumber. Some are compelled, and some are invited.
In this account the heavens are torn apart but the revelation comes to Jesus gently, as a dove, with a sense of both calling and affirmation: You are my son, whom I love and of whom I am very proud.
Wouldn't it be nice to linger for a day or two right here? Wouldn't it be pleasant to just hear that last sentence, that uplifting, strengthening, affirming pronouncement of God upon your life, repeated a few times, and then to let it warm and comfort you? After a moment like that don't you just want to join hands and sing, "They'll know we are Christians by our love"?
Alas, the Spirit has other plans. Immediately (Mark's favorite word) the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness.
Where is the wilderness for you?
We Americans have a tendency to romanticize the concept of wilderness, don't we? What does that word bring to mind for you? The Canadian Rockies? The Sierra Madres? The Blue Ridge or Smoky Mountains? Nine times out of ten, when we say "wilderness" we think of idealized versions of nature. Ansel Adams photographs spring before our mind's eye.
That was not the wilderness of first-century Palestine. This was ugly, barren, hot, miserable, dangerous wilderness. No one in his right mind went there voluntarily. Scorpions and cutthroat criminals and wild animals lived there. Rather nasty.
Also, we are told, there are temptations in such a wilderness as this, the number one of which being that we will become like the wilderness itself: uncivilized, untamed, wild, and anarchic.
The hermeneutical question is, of course, "Where is your wilderness?" Where is it that you are tempted by Satan and find yourself with dangerous wild beasts? Perhaps it is right outside your door, in the concrete canyons of the inner city, or in the backwoods hollows of Appalachia. Maybe your wilderness is the boardroom or the classroom, the football field or the field of politics. Where is it that Satan tempts you to become one of the wild animals that you have beheld?
No hermeneutical challenge is left by itself without a promise, however, and that is the case here. If we allow ourselves to be compelled into the wilderness by God's Holy Spirit, we will be challenged and tempted -- but we will also be ministered to by angels.
God does not let us go into the wilderness alone. He provides us with resources.
Again, we return to the hermeneutical questions: When did you find yourself alone in the wilderness and ministered to by angels?
Perhaps your angels were your next-door neighbors or your parents, your children or your fellow church members. Maybe instead of wings and a halo they wore scrubs or a uniform. Whatever they looked like for you, the promise of God's word is that, if you have allowed the Spirit to take you into your personal wilderness, you did not go alone; angels went with you and ministered to you.
Mark concludes this pericope by reminding us that only after we have been chosen by God and then gone into and come out of the wilderness will we be ready to understand, repeat, and live the good news of the gospel: The time is fulfilled, the kingdom has come near; repent, and believe the good news.
ILLUSTRATIONS
You could not see it in the sky, but if you were an air traffic controller it was very visible on your radar screen. It was the outline of the number 787 and the logo for Boeing, stretching from Washington state to Iowa.
Boeing decided to place this design in the sky to commemorate the recently launched 787 Dreamliner. The jet required an 18-hour Extended Operations Duration flight test. So, as long as the plane was going to be in the air, the Boeing executives decided to advertise their new aircraft and company at the same time. Covering over 9,000 nautical miles, the design took 19 hours to create and took meticulous planning. As Randy Tinseth, Boeing's vice-president of marketing, put it: "This was no joy ride."
The path of the 787 Dreamliner may not be as visible as a rainbow stretching between Washington state and Iowa, but it does demonstrate the same kind of commitment to excellence and a promise to the future of aviation. Beyond just the rainbow, there are many signs of better days ahead.
* * *
The marriage covenant is not what it used to be; that is, a sacred vow. Now it is more of a contractual commitment that one can as easily ease out of as into.
Andrew Cherlin, the author of The Marriage-Go-Around and a professor at John Hopkins University, said, "Now that we've had several decades of high divorce rates, we may know how to do divorce a little better and in a way that minimizes the pain." Cherlin theorizes that in the last 50 years divorce has lost it stigma. A half-century ago, only the most miserable left their marriages; now, those who are "moderately unhappy" are yielding to acrimonious splits.
So it's probably not shocking, as Rebecca Dana, the social columnist for Newsweek, observes in a piece titled "We're Over. Let's Party," that the latest craze among celebrities is for divorcing couples to throw large, expensive, and lavish parties to celebrate. This is always followed by the confession that though each are going their separate ways, they will still always be friends.
And the meaning of the rainbow becomes fainter and fainter with each passing storm.
* * *
While still at sea before landing at Cape Cod in the winter of 1620, the Pilgrims formed themselves into a covenant relationship that has come to be known as the Mayflower Compact. It reads in part:
"In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glorie of God, and advancemente of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant the first colonie in the Notherne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaidÖ"
The Pilgrims received their idea of a covenant from the many covenants in the Bible, beginning with the first one God made with Noah.
* * *
Fred Buechner has this to say about the simple, timeworn story of Noah and his covenant with God:
And the turbulent waters of chaos and nightmare are always threatening to burst forth and flood the earth. We hardly need the tale of Noah to tell us that. The New York Times tells us just as well, and our own hearts tell us well, too, because chaos and nightmare have their little days there also. But the tale of Noah tells other truths as well.
It tells about the ark, for one, which somehow managed to ride out the storm.... The ark is wherever people come together because this is a stormy world where nothing stays put for long among the crazy waves and where at the end of every voyage there is a burial at sea. The ark is where, just because it is such a world, we really need each other and know very well that we do. The ark is wherever human beings come together because in their heart of hearts all of them... dream the same dream, which is a dream of peace -- peace between the nations, between the races, between the brothers -- and thus ultimately a dream of love. Love, not as an excuse for the mushy and innocuous, but love as a summons to battle against all that is unlovely and unloving in the world. The ark, in other words, is where we have each other and where we have hope.
-- from "A Sprig of Hope" in The Hungering Dark (Seabury, 1981), pp. 41-42
* * *
"I establish my covenant with you," says the Lord to Noah, "that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood" (Genesis 9:11). Then the Lord gives Noah the rainbow sign -- an emblem of a new covenant of peace. Because of the quaint image of animals walking two by two we often relegate this story to the world of children's tales, but in fact it is an example of what biblical scholar Phyllis Trible calls a "text of terror." The Almighty here is fierce and dangerous. The gently curving rainbow is quite literally God's bow, God's weapon (v. 16). To the ancient Hebrew people, it is only God's covenant that saves them from destruction that prevents the Lord from taking down the celestial bow, stringing it once again, and wreaking havoc with creation.
* * *
There are many types of covenants in the Bible. The covenant with Moses, for example, takes the form of what scholars call a suzerainty agreement; it's laid out according to the same format as the treaty a conquering emperor would impose upon a newly defeated king. There's an element of negotiation to it: "I'll do something for you, and you do something for me in return."
This covenant with Noah is different. It's what biblical scholars refer to as a "royal grant." In a royal grant covenant, a king rewards a loyal subject by granting an office, or land, or an exemption from taxes. In a royal grant covenant, it's only the superior party who is bound by its terms. There are no conditions imposed upon the inferior party. The covenants God makes with Noah, Abraham, and David all fit this pattern. In each of these cases, it is God alone who chooses to make covenant, to be bound by a solemn oath.
Why does the Lord do it? Out of love. There's no other explanation. There's no one on earth who could disarm this fearsome and mighty warrior; yet the warrior voluntarily chooses to hang up the bow, resolving to practice war no more.
There's another example of this kind of covenant in the Bible -- a covenant leading to a deeper relationship. It happens in the New Testament, at the Last Supper. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood," Jesus proclaims. "Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
* * *
A rainbow is made of tiny droplets of water suspended in the air. The sun shines through these drops of water and its light is refracted, as through a prism. It is this refraction, this splitting up of white light that creates the rainbow's bands of color.
In a certain sense, therefore, the rainbow is made up of the storm itself. The water that once cascaded down upon the earth, sweeping everything before it, has now become a sign of grace. The dread reality that once called forth only terror is transformed into something beautiful.
We can see a similar thing in certain churches and shrines that are renowned as places of healing. Displayed on the walls of such places are items like canes and crutches cast aside by confident people who believed God had healed them. A cane or a crutch is not often a symbol of hope; usually it is a mark of sadness, a reminder of human limitations and the frailty of the flesh. Yet when hung upon the wall of a church where people come for healing, that very thing is transformed into a symbol of hope -- and all by the power of God.
The same is true of relics of the Berlin Wall. For 28 years the wall was an icon of political oppression, a symbol of despair before the stifling power of the totalitarian state. Yet after that giddy night in 1989 when demonstrators, realizing that the guards had departed, hoisted themselves upon it and smashed it with sledgehammers, the wall was transformed into a symbol of freedom. The Germans broke it into tiny pieces and sent the pieces all over the world so that freedom-loving people everywhere could rejoice in their new, hopeful reality.
The same may be said of another symbol, even better known to us than the rainbow or any other image. It's the symbol that occupies the central place in our sanctuary: the cross.
* * *
The wilderness has been a defining feature of American character. It really did not take much encouragement from Horace Greeley to "Go west, young man!" The wilderness has held a lure for us from the beginning of early trapping days to Conestoga wagon days to intercontinental railway days to interstate highway days. We want to enter it, explore it, cross it, and tame it. And when we think we have reached our limit in claiming the land "from sea to shining sea," we look elsewhere for a wilderness in which to forge our character further: space -- "the final frontier."
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner once wrote a letter to a member of the commission responsible for assessing potential uses of America's remaining wilderness areas. Stegner was extremely concerned about protecting and preserving them, saying: "We need wilderness preserved -- as much of it as is still left, and as many kinds -- because it was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed." He also expressed the view that as Americans we are civilized because we have renewed ourselves in the wild.
* * *
After his baptism, Jesus was sent into the desert. It was almost as if the dove who alighted upon him suddenly became a hawk whose talons forced Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan. Jesus resisted. Jesus endured. Jesus emerged victorious. But the wilderness experience is more than just being tempted by Satan to sin; it is also a test by Satan to see if we are always going to do our best.
Jeremy Lin is the latest sports sensation. The unknown, undrafted Harvard graduate has suddenly become a superstar for the New York Knicks and the darling of fans and headline writers across the nation. Is it a fluke? Lin applied the same dedication to perfecting his sport as he applied to his studies of economics -- and he did so looking to the dove of heaven, for he said: "I believe in an all-powerful and all-knowing God who does miracles."
We can debate if Lin is a miracle or not for the Knicks; but what does stands for certain is that, like Tim Tebow, he is a witness to the Christian faith.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: To you, O God, I lift up my soul.
People: O my God, in you I trust.
Leader: Make me to know your ways, O God; teach me your paths.
People: Lead me in your truth and teach me,
Leader: for you are the God of my salvation;
People: for you I wait all day long.
OR
Leader: Come and listen to the good news from Jesus.
People: What is this good news he proclaims?
Leader: He calls us to repent.
People: Repent? That doesn't sound like good news.
Leader: Repent means to change, to turn around, or to find a new life.
People: Then repentance really is good news! Let us follow Jesus!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days"
found in:
UMH: 269
H82: 142
PH: 81
NCH: 211
CH: 180
"What Wondrous Love Is This?"
found in:
UMH: 292
H82: 439
PH: 85
NCH: 223
CH: 200
LBW: 385
ELW: 666
Renew: 277
"Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross"
found in:
UMH: 301
NNBH: 103
NCH: 197
CH: 587
ELW: 336
"Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle"
found in:
UMH: 296
NCH: 220
"Spirit Song"
found in:
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
CCB: 51
Renew: 248
"I Surrender All"
found in:
UMH: 354
AAHH: 396
NNBH: 198
"Dear Lord and Father of Mankind"
found in:
UMH: 358
H82: 652/653
PH: 345
NCH: 502
CH: 594
LBW: 506
"Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us"
found in:
UMH: 381
H82: 708
PH: 387
AAHH: 424
NNBH: 54
NCH: 252
CH: 558
LBW: 481
ELW: 789
"Change My Heart, O God"
found in:
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
"You Are Mine"
found in:
CCB: 58
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who faithfully calls us into covenant with you and with one another: Grant us the grace to trust in your love enough that we can offer ourselves to you and each other; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship the faithful one whose covenant never fails. In a world that is very uncertain, we lean on your strong arm. Help us to draw close to you this day so that we too may be faithful in our covenant with you and with your creation. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our quickness to listen to everyone except Jesus.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us your beloved children and instructed us to obey your Son. But we have not listened to him. We listen to everyone else around us and believe that they have the answer for us. When Jesus tells us to give up hatred and violence, we cling to the hope for revenge. When Jesus tells us that treasures on earth will fade away, we just pile up more and more of them. When Jesus tells us to follow him, we follow our own desires instead. Forgive us and help us to hear him call us once again to repent, to change, to turn around, and give us the power of the Spirit to obey and follow him to life eternal. Amen.
Leader: God's covenant is true. God is always faithful and welcomes us back into the fold as we begin to follow anew our Shepherd.
Prayer for Illumination
Send, O God, the light of your Spirit upon us, that as the good news of Jesus is read and proclaimed we may listen not only with our ears but also with our feet so that we may turn and follow him. Amen.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and praise your name, O God, for you are the faithful one who never breaks covenant. You are the trusted rock of our salvation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us your beloved children and instructed us to obey your Son. But we have not listened to him. We listen to everyone else around us and believe that they have the answer for us. When Jesus tells us to give up hatred and violence, we cling to the hope for revenge. When Jesus tells us that treasures on earth will fade away, we just pile up more and more of them. When Jesus tells us to follow him, we follow our own desires instead. Forgive us and help us to hear him call us once again to repent, to change, to turn around, and give us the power of the Spirit to obey and follow him to life eternal.
We give you thanks for the steadfast, loving kindness with which you bless us. You hold us in the hollow of your hand. You walk with us through the valley of deep darkness. You stand beside us in all the days of our lives.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer to you the hurts and cares of this world that you continue to call to yourself and to life. We pray that we may be part of your caring for those around us. Help us to see each other as you see us, as people in need of healing and wholeness. Help us to share your love.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about when parents and other adults say "Listen," they usually mean "Obey." Tell them that is part of the meaning of the word. When God tells the disciples to listen to Jesus, God means to obey him, to do what he says. Play "Jesus Says" (i.e. "Simon Says") with the children. After a few commands, tell them "Jesus says, 'Repent.' " When they don't know what to do, talk about the word "repent." Tell them that it means to turn around and to go the other direction. When Jesus tells us to repent he wants us to stop going the wrong way and to go the right way instead. We need to follow Jesus.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Tested and Approved
Mark 1:9-15
Object: a product that has been tested [the text below utilizes a dish, but can easily be adapted for whatever you have available]
Today we learn that Jesus went into the wilderness. What's a "wilderness"? (let the children answer) A "wilderness" is like a desert. It is a lonely place where there are not many people and few plants. It says that Jesus was tempted -- or tested -- by Satan. Who is Satan? (let them answer) Satan is the devil -- the one who tries to get us away from God.
It says that Jesus was "tempted," and the word "tempted" is very much like the word "tested." I brought with me this morning a dish that has been tested. Before I bought this dish, I learned that it had been tested in many ways. It has been tested so that it can be very cold -- like in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator. It has been tested so that it can withstand heat -- like in an oven. Where they make these dishes, they even test them for breaking when dropped.
Because this dish has been tested, I know it will not break easily and I can use it for many things. I can use it in the freezer or in the oven or on my table. This dish has been tested, and I know I can trust it.
In the same way, Jesus was tested by Satan. When Satan tests us, we know that Satan also tested Jesus long before and Jesus passed the test. He did not listen to Satan. He resisted temptation and was faithful to God. Since Jesus proved himself true, we can know he is the Savior we can trust.
Since I know that Jesus had tests from Satan, I know that he understands when I am also tested. There are many things that try to pull me away from God. But I can have the strength to resist such temptations because Jesus understands what it is like to be tested, and Jesus helps me resist the tests. I'm so glad Jesus understands me and is there to help me.
Prayer: Dearest Savior, Jesus, thank you for resisting the devil and proving yourself faithful to God. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, February 26, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
